Is Podcasting Right For You? Consider Time Consumption

It’s no argument that podcasting is a great space to be in 2016. Listenership is booming, sponsorship and advertising is lucrative, and the industry is growing daily. All of this sounds very enticing, but is podcasting right for everyone?

Well, being a company in the sphere of podcasting, we are obviously very pro- podcasts. We love the opportunity and the possibilities that podcasting provides to both the small time individual as well as the big blue chip companies.

In an increasingly communicative and connected world, podcasting provides a fantastic platform to network and build relationships with others either interested in your field or actually operating in it. While the positives far outweigh the negatives, there are a few things to consider before launching a podcast on your own, the main being the high amount of time consumption.

Few things in life that are worthwhile comes easy. Whether it’s relational success, financial gain, good health etc., it requires commitment and effort. That was pretty heavy, but you get the point. A successful podcast requires work and consistency and WILL consume a big chunk of your time, guaranteed. So before you commit to launching your own podcast, keep the time factor in mind.

There are of course a few ways that you can save yourself time when running the podcast marathon. Let’s run through some below:

Use a template.

If you are doing show notes or transcriptions, make yourself a template that you can use for each episode. This won’t only save you time, it will also add some organization and uniformity to your layout.

Compile a list of content resources.

Make a list of relevant resources that you can refer to for inspiration and information. No matter what your specialty is, in a world of 7.4 billion, there’s someone else doing it too. Find out who, connect, and share inspiration, taking the collaboration rather than competitive approach.

Hand the editing reigns over to an editing company.

Shameless plug? Maybe… but hear me out. The Audacity to Podcast gives a very realistic content to work required ratio of 4:1 (four hours of work for every hour of audio.) Of those 4 hours (depending on your skill set) you can easily spend 2+ on post-production work alone. There are a few podcast editing companies out there. Take a second to look into them and decide whether your time is more valuable than the cost of handing over the editing reigns.

Don’t overwhelm yourself with work if you have an alternative option. Work hard, but work smart and don’t shy away from switching up your systems and processes. If you want to start a podcast and have the time, start! If you don’t have the time, implement a system that will not only save you precious hours but will get your podcast off the ground as well!